The BC Civil Liberties Association is holding a free public event on RFID titled What’s the frequency Kenneth? on Thursday, May 15, 2008 7:30 pm at the Vancouver Public Library in the Alma VanDusen and Peter Kay Rooms Here’s a pdf of the poster.There was also an informative link on Boingboing about how to kill/block an RFID chip.

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada recently published a consultation paper on Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) in the Workplace: Recommendations for Good Practices.

While the title sounds like the paper could be a bit dry, boring and difficult to understand, it actually is really interesting, written in accessible language with specific examples.

In the section on function creep and secondary uses, the following example is included:

For instance, users of toll payment system that require the use of RFID transponders in vehicles have had their records subpoenaed in divorce cases for the purpose of providing claims of marital infidelity.  The records may assist in determining where an individual’s car was at a particular time.

The Privacy Commissioner of Canada (consultation@privcom.gc.ca) is inviting comments on this paper until April 30, 2008.

Boingboing TV has an interesting video clip showing how easily RFID enabled credit cards cards can be hacked. Pablos Holman, Hacker and Futurist, says:

The credit card industry understands very clearly that creating a secure system isn’t really the priority. Creating a system that feels secure to the user is. In reality it is easier for me to get numbers now than it was before with the old card. All I need to do is get near your ass with my reader.

If credit cards can be hacked this way, I would imagine that the”getting near your ass” technique could be used to hack RFID enhanced driver’s licenses, passports, or library cards.

BC will be piloting a new, RFID chip enhanced driver’s licence that could be used in place of a passport to cross the Canada-US boarder (CBC, Globe and Mail). The RFID chip would have citizenship information, a photo and status to legally cross the boarder. The biggest privacy concern appears to be US boarder guards being able to access information from the RFID chip (like driving history) and that information being stored by the US government on their servers.

John van Dongen, Intergovernmental Affairs Minister dismissed these concerns by stating:

They do not access medical records. They do not access driver’s records. They do not access fines, tickets, penalties. They do not access accident history. None of that information is of any interest to the border agencies in either country.

I have had some nightmare boarder crossings into the US. I’ve been asked about personal information that is not related to my citizenship or eligibility to enter the US.  My partner was interrogated because the boarder guard made a data entry error and pulled up the wrong file. I do not trust the US government, or its employees. This has become worse since 9/11.

I also have concerns about the RFID technology being used.  While I heard on the radio that a metal sleeve would be issued along with the enhanced driver’s licence so that people with RFID readers could not access information encoded on the card, I would like to know more about about how the BC government is helping me protect my personal information.  Some librarians and privacy advocates have had concerns about RFID implementation in libraries.  I think the stakes are much higher than being able to track who checked out certain items of interest.